Compositions and methods for increasing nematode resistance in plants

Abstract

The invention relates to methods and compositions for increasing resistance or tolerance to a nematode plant pest in a plant or part thereof. Nucleotide sequences that confer resistance or tolerance to nematode plant pests when expressed in a plant are provided as well as compositions comprising the polypeptides encoded by the nucleotide sequences, and transgenic plants and parts thereof comprising the nucleotide sequences.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of controlling a cyst nematode plant pest, comprising contacting the cyst nematode plant pest with a transgenic plant, or part thereof, having incorporated into its genome a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding SEQ ID NO: 250, or encoding a conservatively modified variant of having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 250, thereby controlling the cyst nematode plant pest. 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid sequence is operatively linked to a promoter functional in a plant or plant cell, and wherein said nucleic acid sequence is SEQ ID NO: 232. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide is a conservatively modified variant having at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 250. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 250. 
     
     
       5. The method of any one of  claim 1 , wherein the transgenic plant or plant part is a transgenic soybean plant, a transgenic sugar beet plant, a transgenic corn plant, a transgenic canola plant, a transgenic wheat plant, or a transgenic rice plant, or a part thereof. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode or a sugar beet cyst nematode. 
     
     
       7. A transgenic plant, or part thereof, having incorporated into its genome a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 250, 1019, 1021, 1022, 1023, and 1024, or a conservatively modified variant of said polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to said polypeptide, wherein the transgenic plant is resistant to a cyst nematode pest. 
     
     
       8. A seed from the transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein said seed comprises said recombinant nucleic acid molecule. 
     
     
       9. The transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein the plant is a transgenic soybean plant, a transgenic sugar beet plant, a transgenic corn plant, a transgenic canola plant, a transgenic sugar cane plant, a transgenic wheat plant, or a transgenic rice plant. 
     
     
       10. A method of producing a transgenic plant, the method comprising introducing into a plant a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleotide sequence operatively linked to a promoter functional in a plant, wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes the polypeptide set forth by SEQ ID NO: 250, or a conservatively modified variant having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 250, thereby producing a transgenic plant having increased resistance to a cyst nematode plant pest. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the introducing is done by transforming a plant cell and regenerating a transgenic plant or by breeding. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the cyst nematode plant pest is selected from the group consisting of: a soybean cyst nematode and a sugar beet cyst nematode. 
     
     
       13. A transgenic plant having increased resistance to a cyst nematode plant pest produced by the method of  claim 10 . 
     
     
       14. The transgenic plant of  claim 10 , wherein the transgenic plant is a transgenic soybean plant, a transgenic sugar beet plant, a transgenic corn plant, a transgenic canola plant, a transgenic wheat plant, or a transgenic rice plant. 
     
     
       15. A method of reducing the infectivity of a cyst nematode plant pest to a plant, comprising contacting the cyst nematode plant pest with the transgenic plant of  claim 7 , thereby reducing the infectivity of the cyst nematode plant pest to the plant. 
     
     
       16. A method of reducing nematode cyst development by a cyst nematode plant pest, comprising contacting the cyst nematode plant pest with the transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein nematode cyst development by the cyst nematode plant pest on the roots of the plant is reduced. 
     
     
       17. A method of reducing the growth of a cyst nematode plant pest population, comprising contacting the cyst nematode plant pest population with the transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein the growth of a cyst nematode plant pest population is reduced. 
     
     
       18. A method of producing a soybean plant having increased resistance to infestation by a cyst nematode plant pest, the method comprising the steps of (a) crossing the transgenic plant of  claim 7  with itself or another plant to produce seed comprising said recombinant nucleic acid molecule (b) growing a progeny plant from said seed to produce a plant having increased resistance to infestation by cyst nematode plant pests. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , further comprising (c) crossing the progeny plant with itself or another plant and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for an additional 0- 7 generations to produce a plant having increased resistance to infestation by cyst nematode plant pests. 
     
     
       20. A crop comprising a plurality of the transgenic plants of  claim 7  planted together in an agricultural field. 
     
     
       21. A method of improving yield of a plant crop, comprising: cultivating a plurality of the plants of  claim 7  as a plant crop, wherein the plurality of plants of said plant crop have increased resistance to cyst nematode infection, thereby improving the yield of said plant crop. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       23. The transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 10 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       25. The transgenic plant of  claim 13 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 15 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 16 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 17 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 18 , wherein said cyst nematode is a soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ). 
     
     
       30. The transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein said polypeptide is a conservatively modified variant having at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 250. 
     
     
       31. The transgenic plant of  claim 7 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 250. 
     
     
       32. The method of  claim 10 , wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes the polypeptide set forth by SEQ ID NO: 250.